Language:
English
Year of publication:
2022
Titel der Quelle:
Entangled Religions; Interdisciplinary Journal for the Study of Religious Contact and Transfer
Angaben zur Quelle:
13,2 (2022) pp. 18
Keywords:
Muhammad, In literature
;
Ibn Isḥāq, Muḥammad,
;
Legend of Bahira
;
Islam Relations
Abstract:
Early Muslims told a tale about Baḥīrā, a Christian monk who identified theyoung Muḥammad as the long-awaited prophet and warned the boy’s guardian to protecthim from murderous Jews. This legend proved so popular that not only later Muslims butalso Christians, Samaritans, and Jews themselves retold it in widely divergent ways. Thisstudy analyzes the foundational version of the Baḥīrā legend that appears in the Sīra ofMuḥammad ibn Isḥāq (d. ca. 768 CE) alongside others whose genealogical relationship toit is demonstrable. Within these tales, comparison functions as a powerful rhetorical toolby means of which premodern authors denigrate their targets. Academic comparison ofthe Baḥīrā legend’s many versions, in contrast, reveals the distinctive ways in which pre-modern authors from different communities understood the similarities and differencesnot only between their own community and its rivals but also among those rivals. Thisarticle demonstrates the utility of Oliver Freiberger’s methodological framework for com-parative religion and, more specifically, the analytical value of juxtaposing sources inorder to generate insights that deepen understanding of each comparand in its own right
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